The majority of Russians (35 percent) take a shower or a bath on a daily basis. Eleven percent of Russian citizens take a shower twice a day. Residents of Europe turned down their medieval habit of washing themselves twice in a lifetime. However, they still prefer not to take a shower too often. The Britons and the Germans usually wash themselves twice a week.

Ecologists say that a habit of daily showers and baths may lead to an ecological disaster, since the planet runs out of its fresh water reserves very quickly.

Muscovites are the cleanest people in Russia, although it is very hard to believe it after a ride in the Moscow metro. Fifty-five percent of Muscovites take a shower every day. Eighteen percent of them scrub themselves up twice a day. A washing session takes about 20 minutes, a recently conducted research poll said.

An average Russian citizen becomes cleaner too. About 35 percent of Russians wash themselves daily, even in the summer period, when hot water supplies are shut down for scheduled repairs (this is a common practice in most cities and towns across Russia). When there is no hot water in apartments, Russians to go saunas or bath houses. Many heat up buckets of cold water on their stoves or install water heaters which they use for the time of repairs. Those who do not have water heaters in their apartments may often visit their friends or neighbors just for several minutes of a hot shower.

Only 19 percent of Russians take a shower once a week, but they are mostly rural residents, who have no water supplies in their houses at all.

An average American takes a shower twice a day – this is a holy ritual in the States. A person who neither takes a shower, nor changes his or her underwear for two days is considered an outcast in the USA.

Specialists say that Russians have developed a passion for cleanliness through TV series, films, books and other objects of mass culture, which actively imitate the American lifestyle.

The Hindus are the cleanest nation in the world. They wash their hands and bodies twice as often as Germans and 1.5 times as often as Americans. A Hindu will always go to the bathroom after he or she sneezes, touches a pet or visits a toilet. This cleanliness is justifiable in India, for this is the country which intestinal infections find very comfortable for their existence. A piece of soap in the hands is the best protection against them in India.

Experts say that modern-day nations develop a passion for cleanliness because they do not know the price of fresh water. Such a passion in Russia may indeed result in an ecological disaster. The majority of apartment buildings in Russia do not have hot and cold water counters – people pay a fixed price for water, no mater how much water they use. One should keep in mind the fact that a regular shower requires about 50 liters of water, whereas a bath needs 120 liters. Such a habit looks insane against the background of a serious shortage of fresh water in the world. Unlike Europeans, Russians do not even try to economize water.